Reviews with content warning for Gun violence - Die Gesetzlose

Whoever told me this was about lesbian cowgirls is a liar. (Kinda.)

I really, really wanted to love this book. The premise and cover are absolutely stunning and hooked me in right away. Especially with the opening line. Unfortunately, it was just okay.

I give North credit for writing a very diverse book, but what are diversity points worth if you don't connect? Because I didn’t connect or care for any character and I wasn’t invested in Ada at all.

Most of the characters felt very flat to me, which is so sad because I really wanted to fall in love with them. Some backstories I found unnecessary, but I can see the argument on why they were needed for the story. Showing how gruesome and cruel the world is. I liked the conversation I think North was trying to start, but again, it fell short.

There’s nothing I disliked about the book, perhaps the last few pages, but it didn’t deter my reading experience.

Wasn’t the worst, wasn’t the bad. So just okay.

Content Warnings

nothingforpomegranted's review against another edition

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2.25

Ostensibly set in a mostly-dystopian 1894 Texas town that places a premium on women's ability to bear children and suspects infertile women of witchcraft, this book is narrated by Ada, a seventeen-year-old wife and midwife's apprentice who has been exiled from her community after a year of marriage with no child. Passionate about science and serving women, Ada finds herself in the company of the Hole in the Wall gang, a group of outlawed outsiders with a flexible and fluid approach to gender, love, sex, and justice.

This feminist take on a Western novel, filled with crime, adventure, and challenging authority, was certainly creative, but I was quite the right audience for it. Indeed, I was so distracted by the references to race, doctors, baby Jesus, the Flu and Fever, and the seeming dissolution of the United States that I was almost more focused on trying to figure out whether this was a dystopian alternative history (a Confederate win in the Civil War?) or a dystopian future (post COVID-19?), and I'm honestly still confused.

I also was pretty confused by the role of religion and by all of the characters. There were many, each with a painful background, but none was particularly well-developed, and the sub-plots detracted rather than added to the story. The one exception to this, in my opinion, was Lark's story, which surprised and intrigued me, but he, too, was an underdeveloped character who stuck around too briefly.

I appreciate the reviewer who acknowledged that this book offers a different take on the Hole in the Wall gang. I had no idea that this gang was a real concept and really disappointed that there was no Author's Note explaining that research and that choice (which guess means this is an alt-history novel?).

I picked this up because I needed a quick read to help propel me out of a slump (too many classics in a row/at a time can do that to you), and it was definitely successful in that respect. The story was engaging enough and kept me turning the pages for the few hours that this took to finish, but ultimately, I think Anna North bit off more than she could chew--infertility, religion, feminism, justice, gender fluidity, insomnia, mental health, medicine, mothering, Western adventure--and it really didn't work for me.

Content Warnings

kitty03's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Content Warnings

squish's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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